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It’s finally time for the last character appearing in Justice League, another small cameo: Elinore Stone, the late mother of Cyborg portrayed by Karen Bryson. We know that there was a flashback involving her and her son somewhere down the line, but that got cut out, so we only get to see her in a family picture with her husband and son. As far as we know, she died in the same accident that eventually transformed Victor into Cyborg, and that mirrors what happened to her (on Prime Earth, she keeps guiding her son as a hologram, much like the way Jor-El does with Superman). Now, let’s take a look to this secondary, but yet important character in Cyborg’s story.

Not much is known about Elinore Beatty‘s life before her last years. She was probably born in New York City, where she received a superior education, that nurtured her already remarkable natural talent for scientific disciplines. Her talent didn’t go unnoticed, and immediately after college she was hired by S.T.A.R. Labs, the most advanced research facility in the country, and one of the most advanced in the entire world. With an expertise ranging from physics to chemistry to biology, Elinore had the chance to prove herself in several important projects, and while working at S.T.A.R. she also met a fellow scientist, Silas Stone, whom she eventually fell in love with. The two got married some time later, and even had a son together, Victor. Both of them were working on a project to increase human intelligence and, believing they were opening a brighter future for Victor, they used their son as a guinea pig, artificially increasing his I.Q. since his childhood. The experiments were quite a success, but both Elinore and Silas had quite great expectations for their son, and the pressure eventually became unbearable.

Unavoidably, when he became a teenager, Victor snapped, and he didn’t want to have anything to do with his parents’ work anymore; after all, he wasn’t the one who had asked to become smarter with experiments he didn’t even understand. Victor’s phase of rebellion drove him away from Elinore and Silas, making him even join a street gang, and only then Elinore realized her mistake, and tried to be a mother before being a scientist… but it was a little bit too late, and everything she said was always charged with the failed expectations she had for her son. Eventually, however, she and her husband dropped their project on increasing intelligence, and they moved onto something else entirely: dimensional transportation. After a year of work, the couple managed to build a Dimensional Transmitter that successfully opened a small portal on another dimension… unfortunately, it wasn’t small enough to prevent the arrival of an unwanted guest, an alien spore with plainly unfriendly intents. Before Silas managed to reverse the process and send the jelly monster back home, the alien attacked Victor, who was visiting the lab: Elinore tried to protect her son, but she was killed by the monster, while Victor was horribly maimed nevertheless. At last, however, she had managed to do something a true mother would have.

Elinore Beatty Stone is an incredibly smart and intelligent woman, a genius scientist who’s totally dedicated to her work. While she has absolutely no flaws as a scientist, she still struggles in her personal relations, even familiar ones, and she tends to treat even her son as a test subject. She’s an accomplished physicist, biologist and bio-chemist, and she even has some knowledge in medicine. Apparently, the only thing she has left to learn, is how to be the mother her son needs…

We finally arrived at the last member of The Pride (since the two mutant ones have been killed off-screen, thanks Fox), a character that apparently will be pivotal in future developments of Runaways. In the very first episode we meet Leslie Dean, portrayed by Annie Wesching: Leslie is the head of the mysterious cult known as the Church of Gibborim, a curious mix of Scientology and a Satanist sect. It looks like the Church’s main goal is to keep alive Leslie’s father, the allegedly deceased David Ellerh, with human sacrifices taken from the Church’s pious and faithful believers, but this remains to be confirmed. In the comics, Leslie’s origins are much more spectacular, and her goals even shadier: let’s see together.

Not much is known about Leslie Dean, actually not even her true name, since “Leslie Dean” is just an alias she adopted on Earth. She was born on a remote planet, Majesdane, a wealthy world hidden by a white dwarf star, and there she became quite a renowned individual because of the illicit activities she ran with her husband. Both of them, in fact, were arms dealers, and worst of all they sold weapons to the Skrulls, who had been attempting to conquer Majesdane for centuries. Caught and arrested, the couple was exiled from the planet, and they ended up on Earth, where they landed near Los Angeles. They took their new names from a James Dean memorial, and decided to call themselves Leslie and Frank Dean. They used a special metal to suppress their powers, so that their translucent body looked like a human one, but they bought a house on an isolated hill, so that they could move freely without their restricting bracelets without anyone seeing them. Leslie soon found out that Earth’s people were easily fooled by appearance, and she suggested to her husband that, due to their remarkable looks on Earth, they became actors. The idea proved to be successful, as they became the stars of General Hospital, a popular tv series. In a matter of a few years, they had everything they could possibly want: rich and popular, considered eccentric vegans and solitude-lovers by their fans, they had achieved quite a good position on the new world… but they wanted more. And more they were offered when they were abruptly teleported to a lost city by some Elder Gods, the Gibborim, who wanted to come to Earth but needed help to break the dimensional barrier separating them from it. In exchange of an annual human sacrifice, the Gibborim offered to six couples, Deans included, wealth and power beyond imagination, and six places in the new world they would have created. Leslie and her husband accepted without thinking of it twice.

Leslie’s natural alien powers received quite a boost, and so did her popularity as an actress. Everything was simply perfect, until the other members of The Pride, following an unexpected pregnancy, decided they would have had a child each to leave the promised kingdom to. Leslie wasn’t happy at all, as she didn’t want any heir, but she ultimately realized that the presence of a baby would have increased even more her popularity, so she convinced Frank promising him an appearance on People‘s cover. Leslie gave birth to a daughter, Karolina, but she decided to keep her true heritage hidden from her. Since she was born, she put to her wrist a bracelet made from the same metal that negated her own powers, and when the baby was old enough, she told her it was a sign of her allergy to penicillin, and that she was forbidden to ever take it away, unless she wanted to die. This way, Karolina grew up believing she was a normal human, oblivious to her alien nature, and Leslie could manipulate her as she wanted, turning her into her and Frank’s ticket to an even greater celebrity, introducing also her daughter to the show biz since she was little. Of course, Leslie and Frank also did their best to hide their true nature, both biological and moral, from their daughter, but being professional actors it took little effort to them to pretend to be good people. Away from highlights, they participated every year to the Rite of Blood, killing along with the other members of The Pride some runaway nobody would have ever looked for. Leslie also helped Frank repel a Skrull invasion of Earth, since it would have messed with her plans, and they managed to buy Prince De’zean‘s surrender with the coordinates of Majesdane and the hand of Karolina, promised in marriage to the Prince’s son. In the meanwhile, Leslie and Frank had also made an alliance with the mutant members of The Pride, Gene and Alice Hayes, planning with them to kill all the others to win the promised utopia with them and the respective daughters. The day of the Gibborim’s arrival was approaching fast…

Leslie Dean is a cruel and brutal woman, a fierce criminal who has no consideration whatsoever for other people’s lives, barely caring for her own daughter. As a Majesdanian, she can absorb solar energy, using it to augment her own strength and durability, to fly, to shoot powerful energy blasts, to create force fields and much more. Deceiving and manipulative, Leslie is a wolf disguised as a sheep, a ruthless murderer who’s ready to sacrifice an entire universe to her own ambition.

Last week The Gifted brought to us another major character from the comics, one who may be both a formidable ally and a tremendous threat. In Threat of eXtinction, in fact, among the new refugees taken in by Mutant Underground there’s also Esme, portrayed by Skyler Samuels. Esme immediately proves to be useful to the team, as she identifies with her telepathy the Hound that Sentinel Services infiltrated among their ranks, and she’s later pivotal in reading Chloe Tan‘s mind to know her story. In the comics, Esme is known more for her corruption than for her heroic time, and with a reason. Let’s see together.

Esme Cuckoo wasn’t naturally born, rather she was genetically engineered: when Emma Frost was in a comatose state after an attack from the Sentinels, Doctor John Sublime from Weapon Plus harvested her egg cells, and fertilized them to obtain thousands of clones possessing the same telepathic abilities as Frost, exponentially augmented when used in group. The girls, nicknamed Weapon XIV, were created with the purpose of erasing mutant population, and five of them were activated for a first attempt in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters: Esme, Celeste, Mindee, Phoebe and Sophie. The five girls, who called themselves the Five-In-One (but soon earned the moniker Stepford Cuckoos) enrolled in the school, activating telepathic blocks to prevent anyone to know their true origin and purpose, and pretending to be orphaned quintuplets. They even managed to become Emma Frost’s proteges, as the telepath was now acting as a teacher in the school. The five sisters had a single hive mind and almost no individuality… until Esme started to detach herself from the other four. The starting point was her crush for the disguised Shi’ar soldier Stuff, accompanied by feelings strong enough to part her from her sisters. With individuality, other more negative feelings started to emerge, such as her envy for her younger sister, Sophie, who was leading the hive mind. In order to take control of the quintuplet and dispose of Sophie, Esme became an ally of the enigmatic Xorn, who prompted her to use the drug Kick, able to augment her telepathy. Becoming more powerful than her sisters for the first time in her life, Esme started manipulating them from within, without being noticed thanks to the strong blocks she created. When she was ready, along with Xorn, she started her plan.

Uniting her own machinations to Xorn’s, Esme manipulated her sisters into following her, without them even realizing she was the one pulling the strings. When, prompted by Xorn, some students led by Quentin Quire aka Kid Omega went high on Kick and started a rebellion within the school, Sophie “led” her sisters into stopping the fight. Esme pushed Sophie into assuming Kick, and into trying to use Cerebra to block all the attackers, including Kid Omega who was a pretty powerful telepath himself. The plan succeeded, but even with Kick Sophie wasn’t strong enough for Cerebra, and she died of fatigue. Shortly after that, when everything seemed to be calm, Esme tried to kill the only other telepath she recognized as her superior: Emma Frost. She shot her mentor with a diamond bullet, penetrating her indestructible skin and shattering her, and left her for dead. Emma was later resurrected by Jean Grey, but in the meanwhile Bishop and Sage started investigating on the murder. Afraid of being caught, Esme escaped from the school. She wasn’t alone, however, as she found another mentor (and crush) in Xorn, the one she had been working with from the beginning. The two were together for a while, still using Kick to augment their abilities, but eventually the drug drove them insane. Still seeking vengeance against the school and the X-Men, Esme and Xorn devised an even more ambitious plan: Xorn posed as Magneto, and his interpretation was solid enough to fool even a long-time follower like Toad. The three mutants, along with some other ex-students of Xavier’s Institute, formed a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and led an all-out assault on the school. The effects of Kick, however, would have soon deteriorated what little was left of Esme’s sanity, as well as her lover’s…

Esme Cuckoo is an ambitious and cruel young woman, driven by her thirst for uniqueness to several unforgivable acts, including murder. She is quite a powerful telepath, capable of a variety of deeds from reading minds to project illusions, from mind-control to astral form projection, and she can even turn her body into a hyper-durable organic diamond like her biological mother; as one of the Stepford Cuckoos, she used to augment her abilities exponentially when linked to the hive mind formed with her sisters, but without them she still powers herself up with the drug Kick. The first one to break the perfect harmony the Five-In-One used to be, Esme Cuckoo is a true femme fatale, malicious and manipulator… ironically, much more similar to Emma Frost than her other sisters.

The last character from the huge flashback in Justice League (but not the last one from the movie) is the ancient King of Atlantis portrayed by Julian Lewis Jones: King Atlan, the one who hides one of the Mother Boxes in his kingdom after the battle. Atlan is a relevant character in Atlantis‘ mythology. In the most recent incarnation, he’s the first king ever, who goes mad after his brother Orin betrays him and kills his entire family. In the original timeline, however, he’s better known for being the quasi-immortal father of Aquaman. Let’s see together.

Atlan was born centuries ago, the son of warmongering King Honsu of Atlantis and of his wife, the deceiving Queen Lorelei. Atlan was the second of three princes, the first one being the great warrior Kraken, and the youngest the wise scholar Haumond. Since his birth, it was apparent that Atlan was different from his brothers: he showed the signs of the Curse of Kordax, meaning he was born with blonde hair, a unique trait among Atlanteans that was believed to be a deformity. If this wasn’t enough, Atlan was also a homo magi, a sub-species born with a natural affinity and ability in magic. All these traits together made him a pariah among his people, and he was eventually exiled from the capital city of Poseidonis as soon as he showed he was actually developing his skill with magic. Known as “Atlan the Loner“, he traveled the seas for years, but his thirst for knowledge led him even beyond the borders of the Atlanteans’ realm, and he explored the surface world as well. Posing as a human, he visited land as well, and he got fascinated by human culture and cities. Enthusiast with what he had seen, Atlan broke the rules and came back to Atlantis, telling his father Honsu of the many wonders he had witnessed. Intrigued by his son’s tales, and spurred by his cruel wife, Honsu made something Atlan didn’t expect: he moved war to the surface world, with intention of conquering it. Embittered by his family’s warmongering spirit, Atlan came back to his self-imposed exile, and dedicated himself to the study of magic, becoming a powerful sorcerer.

Years later, Lorelei’s plan came into fruition, and she managed to put her son Kraken on the throne in place of Honsu. Kraken married a beautiful woman, Atlanna, and in her Atlan saw an occasion of revenge against his family. Using his magic, he approached the queen in his spirit form, and seduced her: from their relationship was born a son, Orin, who inherited the Curse of Kordax from his real father. The prince was cast out of the kingdom, and Kraken was publicly humiliated. Atlan, however, followed Orin’s growth, and secretly led him into becoming not only the new king of Atlantis, but also a hero for Atlanteans and humans alike. He also fathered other children: he had a relation with an Inuit woman, and another son was born, Orm Marius, who was destined to follow a much darker path than Orin’s. He even had a daughter, Deborah Perkins, from a Japanese woman named Miya Shimada, better known as the superhero Tsunami: Deborah would have become a heroine like her mother, with the name Deep Blue. Gifted with the extremely long life of the homo magi, Atlan kept guiding his family from a distance, using his magic to assist his descendants and to pull the strings of fate. He sometimes intervened in a more direct way, such as when he bestowed Aquaman’s adopted son, Garth aka Aqualad, with great magic abilities, and secretly taught him how to use them. For being a pariah who officially ceased to exist centuries ago, Atlan was practically ruling over the kingdom he had been denied centuries before…

Atlan is a wise and highly intelligent man, a centuries-old sorcerer who loves life and everything it has to give him, but who knows how to pull the right strings to make fate follow a path only he knows. As an Atlantean, he possesses superhuman strength and durability, and the ability to breath under water; inheriting the Curse of Kordax, he’s able to communicate with sea life, and being a homo magi he’s virtually immortal and naturally skilled in magic, with spells including telepathy, astral form, hydrokinesis and much more. An ancient and powerful being, Atlan is one of the secret weavers of history, a secret presence who keeps influencing his kingdom and family from behind the curtains.

Back to Runaways, we meet another member of The Pride: Frank Dean, portrayed by Kip Pardue. In the show, Frank is a former teen star, an actor who’s now on the descendant side of the parable of his success. Interestingly enough, he seems to be oblivious to everything going on with his wife and The Pride, while in the comics he certainly isn’t. Looking for a way to keep himself afloat, he’s now trying to join the inner circle of his wife’s Church of Gibborim, but where this will lead him remains to be seen… In the comics, Frank’s motivations go far beyond simple vanity, that’s a feeling far too human for someone like him… who’s not human at all. Let’s see together.

Frank Dean wasn’t born in Los Angeles, not even on Earth, and “Frank Dean” wasn’t even his real name: he was born on a distant planet called Majesdane, where a race of translucent beings able to absorb solar energy lived. It was on the planet that he met and married his partner in crime, the one that on Earth would have been known as Leslie. The couple became famous on Majesdane for making business with the Skrulls, Majesdanians‘ enemies, dealing in weapons with them. As they were discovered, the two were exiled, and eventually they arrived on Earth. Once on the new planet, they adopted human names: Frank and Leslie, while they chose they surname taking inspiration from a Jimmy Dean memorial close to where they landed. Extremely beautiful for human standards, the two Majdesdanians easily won Los Angeles’ heart, and they became the stars of a famous tv series, General Hospital. They hid their alien appearance thanks to a special device made of a unknown metal, that could negate their abilities, making them look just like humans. They posed as a vegan, green and progressive couple, hiding their true nature from their fans. One day, however, everything changed: while on the set of General Hospital, they were teleported away by an unknown force, and they found themselves in a submerged lost city, with other five couples, facing the Gibborim, Elder Gods from another dimension who had a deal to propose to them. They would have increased their powers and wealth, in exchange of their service, and they would have granted six seats for them in the new world they would have created destroying the old one. The Deans accepted without thinking it twice.

Frank saw immediate benefits coming from the deal, as his powers received quite a boost, as well as his fame. The only thing he had to do in return was to sacrifice along with the others one human per year, to strengthen the Gibborim. Everything was simply perfect, until Janet Stein got pregnant: the other members of The Pride decided to have a child each, to have them inherit the new world in their place, but Frank and Leslie didn’t want any child at all. It was Leslie who convinced Frank to have one, believing a baby would have boosted their popularity even more. The two had a daughter, and they named her Karolina. Soon after, a group of Skrulls led by Prince De’zean arrived on Earth, meaning to conquer it. Frank faced them, and managed to stop the prince by giving him the coordinates of Majesdane, hidden behind a star; to guarantee the truth of the information, Frank promised to De’zean he would have given his daughter’s hand to his son, Xavin, believing that the Skrulls would have all died in the war with Majesdane, and that there wouldn’t have been need to keep his promise. In the meanwhile, both he and Leslie devised another plan with Gene and Alice Hayes: similar to the mutant couple in the disdain for the other human families, the Deans agreed with them that they would have eventually killed the other four couples of The Pride, so that the promised land would have belonged to the Deans, the Hayes’ and their daughters Karolina and Molly. Not that Frank truly cared if Karolina or anybody else but Leslie survived with him to the approaching apocalypse…

Frank Dean is a brutal and warmongering criminal, a deceiving monster who hides his true nature behind a facade of progressive and caring philanthropist actor. As a Majesdanian, he can absorb solar energy and focus it in powerful energy blasts and impenetrable force fields, he can fly and survive in the void of space, and he possesses superhuman strength and durability. One of the most dangerous members of The Pride, Frank Dean is wicked enough to fake love even for his daughter, and there’s no living being apart from his wife he’d have any problem killing.

In the meanwhile we also have our tv series to take care of, so this week (and the next ones) will be pretty cramped. In this week’s episode of Supergirl a lot of things happened: in Wake Up, in fact, Mon-El comes back to Earth on some spaceship, but he acts weird. We learn he comes from the future, and that he also has a wife… Imra Ardeen, portrayed by Amy Jackson. Imra comes from the moon Titan, and her name is definitely not an unknown one, as she’s the leader of a popular team of superheroes from the future that also Mon-El is part of in the comics. Imra already appeared in Smallville, this time with her alias Saturn Girl, portrayed by Alexz Johnson: she comes back in time with her teammates Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad to help Clark in dealing with Brainiac, who’s successfully possessing Chloe Sullivan. Now, let’s take a look at the first female character ever to be portrayed as the leader of her team.

Imra Ardeen was born on Titan, a moon of Saturn, , in the XXX Century, and she was member of a race of powerful telepaths. Since she was little more than a kid it was apparent that her natural abilities surpassed by far the average ones of her people, and she felt the commitment to do something good with her powers. Growing up, she became more and more convinced to join the Science Police, the military branch of the United Planets. She was admitted to the academy as a teenager, and she left her homeplanet to start the job of her dreams… but destiny wanted something different for her, apparently. On the cargo bringing her to Earth, Imra heard with her telepathy the thoughts of someone who was planning to assassinate one of the passengers, billionaire R. J. Brande. Wanting to stop the murderer, Imra managed to obtain the help of two other young men on the cargo, Garth Ranzz, from Winath, and Rokk Krinn, from Braal: together, the trio managed to stop the assassination, thus earning Brande’s gratitude. The billionaire, in fact, was so impressed by the teenagers’ work that he recognized in them heroes able to take up the legacy of long lost legends like Superman, and prompted them to officially take the mantle of superheroes. Intrigued, the three of them accepted the offer, and naming themselves, respectively, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy, they founded the Legion of Superheroes, starting to operate anywhere in the galaxy, and looking for new recruits to join them in patrolling the system. Many young heroes from all corners of the universe joined them, including Brainiac 5, who opened to them the possibilities of time travel: now, they could recruit heroes also from other eras.

While still under the unofficial guidance of Cosmic Boy, the team traveled back to the XX Century, where they recruited a young Superman. They also saved him from the Legion of Super-Villains, and Imra even offered her own life in exchange of Superboy‘s one, even if she was eventually saved by Saturn Queen. Messing with time, however, also brought some unwanted knowledge: she learnt that a member of the still growing Legion was fated to die in 2975, the same year the team had organized elections to decide their leader. Imra used her telepathy to mind-control all the others and force them to elect her, so that, when the time came and Zarya the Conqueror attacked, she ordered everybody to stand down, prohibiting them to use their powers, and offering herself as a sacrifice. Garth, however, disobeyed her: in love with her since the first moment he saw her, he offered his own life in her place, and turned out to be the Legionnaire destined to die. Distraught by her friend’s death, Saturn Girl finally realized that she reciprocated his feelings, and she became obsessed with bringing him back. Saturn Girl eventually found a way to resurrect Lightning Lad, but this required a life for a life… and, once again, she was ready to sacrifice herself to bring Lightning Lad back. Just before she could make the ultimate sacrifice, however, Saturn Girl was knocked out by Proty, a shape-shifting member of the Legion companion to Chameleon Boy, who was deeply attached to her. Proty transformed into Imra, and died in her place. Lightning Lad came back, and he declared his love to Saturn Girl, who did the same: the two became a couple, but Imra still had to face her fellow Legionnaires, who now knew she had manipulated them in electing her. She was surprised, however, in seeing that they actually valued her leadership, and that they were grateful for her attempt to save them all: they confirmed her as the team’s leader, and they even re-elected her for a second term. Many challenges were awaiting the heroine, but first she had to plan her long-awaited marriage with Garth…

Imra Ardeen is a heroic and selfless girl, a committed heroine who feels the responsibility coming from her abilities, and who’s always ready to sacrifice herself for others (even too much…). As Saturn Girl, her natural abilities grant her telepathy, which she mastered to the point of being at the same level of Martian Manhunter: she can read and communicate thoughts, she can mind-control other people, she can communicate telepathically even from a dimension to another, and she can even project strong mind-blasts; the Legion’s technology allows her to fly and to travel through time, and she’s a skilled tactician and hand-to-hand combatant. One of the greatest heroes of her time, Saturn Girl leads one of the largest and most powerful teams in history, acting as moral guidance to young heroes who rightfully look to her for inspiration.

Back to Justice League, we meet another Olympian present on the battlefield during the first invasion attempt from Steppenwolf: Artemis, portrayed by Aurore Lauzeral. Artemis appears to make short work of the Parademons with her powered-up arrows, and she oversees the final victory and the division of the Mother Boxes. We know that, centuries later, she will be killed by her brother Ares, who stands besides her in Justice League, as told in Wonder Woman, so it’s unlikely we’ll see her again, apart from possible flashbacks. Even if the character clearly originates from Greek mythology, she’s quite relevant in the comics as well, being one of the goddesses who gave birth to the Amazons in the first place. Let’s see together.

Artemis was born at the dawn of time when Zeus, betraying once again his wife Hera, seduced the beautiful TitanessLeto. The woman, haunted by Hera’s jealousy, hid herself in a land not touching any ground, Delos, where the sun never shined, and gave birth to twin brothers: Artemis and Apollo. The two kids grew with their mother, and soon learnt archery to provide for food. When she was still a child, Zeus admitted both her and her brother to his presence, allowing them to take their rightful place among the gods their peers. Having a soft spot for Artemis, Zeus allowed her to express six wishes he would have granted, and the baby asked: godly bow and arrows, and a short tunic, to be allowed to hunt; many names that could differentiate her from her brother Apollo; to be a Phaesporia (Light Bringer) to bring comfort to the ones lost in darkness; to have sixty Nymphs to be her choir, and then to have other twenty to be her handmaidens; last, to be a virgin forever. She didn’t want any city dedicated to her, but she would have gladly taken the woods instead; no king would have called for her aid, but the women suffering from childbirth would have. Zeus granted all this, and Artemis became the Goddess of Moon, of Hunt and of Forests, a fierce protector of all women and the mistress of all animals. Bringing light to the night and assisting the ones forgotten and mistreated by everyone, she became one of the most worshiped goddesses of ancient times, and thus one of the most powerful, as Olympians draw their power from mortals’ prayers.

Artemis lived the time of myth as a virgin huntress who only loved the company of her maidens and her dogs, with only a hero, Orion, managing to win her heart, but dying in a tragic accident soon after. It was her vicinity to women, however, that eventually brought her to change the world forever: saddened by all the useless death and suffering humans were bringing on themselves, Artemis summoned other four goddesses (Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter and Hestia) to try and put a stop to all this violence. The five deities created bodies from the clay of the Mediterranean Sea, and filled them with godly gifts: Artemis provided her keen senses and her hunting skills, as well as a natural affinity with animals. After that, they brought on the souls of the many women who in history had suffered and died at the hands of men, inviting them to inhabit those bodies; then, they pleaded their father Zeus to give life to those bodies. The result was the birth of the Amazons, a powerful tribe of warrior women who were tasked with bringing peace to the world of men, torn by war and violence, and to keep it with might and kindness. Artemis guided and protected the Amazons in their mission, and rejoiced for their successes, but couldn’t do anything to prevent their fall and their separation. Despite the Amazons who lived in Bana-Mighdall still honored Artemis, the goddess rejected them, as they had turned their ways becoming murderous and violent like men, and she kept favoring the ones exiled on Themyscira. When, centuries later, Queen Hippolyta magically created a daughter, she named her with Artemis’ Roman name, Diana, and the goddess thanked her by blessing the child with all her gifts. Maybe, this new champion would have finally brought justice to a world that was still destroying itself life after life.

Artemis is, as all Olympians, a unique mix of wisdom and whim, of benevolent kindness and murderous vengeance, known both for motherly assisting women in labor and for having mauled by her dogs the few men who ever saw her naked. As the Goddess of Moon, Hunt and Forests, she’s an immortal and nearly invulnerable Olympian who possesses superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability and stamina, extremely keen senses, the ability to travel between dimensions and alter her shape, telepathy applicable to both animals and humans, and the power to increase or decrease animals’ fertility; she’s also an extremely skilled huntress and archer, one of the fiercest Olympian warriors. A consecrated virgin who devoted her entire immortal life to the protection of women, Artemis is a wonderful and fearsome apparition for whoever lay eyes on her, a bringer of life who can as well turn into a bringer of death.